Fabric.



No. 859,679. PATENTED JULY 9, 1907.

W. S. MELLEN.

FABRIC.-

API LIOATION FILED SEPT.29.1904.

llllllllll/ll//l Afzfszel UNITED sTATEsiArENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. MELLEN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR, RY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

NATIONAL VENEER PACKAGE COMPANY 0F MISSOURI.

, OF S'l. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION FABRIC.

lSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented. July 9, 1907.

Application filed September 29,1904. Serial No. 226,438. 1

To all whom 'it may concern: j

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. MELLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new fabric, preferably composed of pieces or strips of thin wood.

The invention consists, primarily, in the making of a new fabric, and secondarily, in the manufacture of a widely diversified Variety .of articles from vsaid fabric. By way of" illustration, but not enumeration, a few of the many kinds of articles that can be made of this material will be named-'railroad ties, stave columns, buckets, barrels, boards, piping and tubing of alle-kinds, washtubs, boxes, etc., etc.l

In the accompanying drawings, in which like numbers of reference denote like parts lwherever they occur, Figure l is a pefspectiveview of a lamina/ted cylinder or stave column; Fig. 2 is a sectional view through part of same (on an enlarged scale) .to show the joint; Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view through partof an unbent piece of my new fabric; and 4 is a side elevation of a cylinder like that illustrated in Fig. l, but constructed in .accordance with a modification of my principal invention.

At present a great deal of lumber is wasted. This is due to the fact that for certain purposes'a particular quality or character of lumber is needed, and inferior lumber is, therefore, rejected. In view of the decreasing amount of standing timber and consequent expected curtailment of the lumber supply, it has become an economic necessity to utilize every wood fragment so far as possible. This is one of the objects of my invention. Another is to produce a fabric -which possesses unusual strength, proportioned to the thickness of the material used, and capable `of indefinite increase by multiplication of the laminations.

Still another object of my invention is to enable 'i wood fabric to be molded into.a bent form, thus permitting its use for a variety ofv purposes-heretofore impossible.

While the fabric may be made of leather, dried watermelonl and canteloupe rinds, and the like, I shall describe it as made of wood. It will be underl stood that any kind of lumber can be used, but I am I. ber as wellas with any other kind. v `Thin strips orxpieces of wood like veneer, of any able vto produce my fabric by usingscrap or waste lumlerigth,wid th, or shape, are vcharniered or skived at their tends'. 'and edges lapping over the ends or `edges of other adjacent similarly-skived piecesA or strips of quasi. veneer. The skived edge is of the form clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, that is to say, it consists first of a straight portion 1, and then oi a beveled part 2. In the formation of the fabric; the chamfered edges of the several pieces of veneer are treated with adhesives and pressed tightly together, thus making a very strong joint. If desired, this pressrlire may )be applied at the same time that vthe article is being molded from the fabric. The fabric is like a mosaic or piece of patchwork, and 'may'consist of only one thickness or of a series of laminations.

In order that its mode of manufacture may be better understood, l shall now describe same indetail, but` -piece or strip 4, both ends and both sides of the piece 5,

the righthand edge and both ends of the strip 6, both ends and both sides of the st rip 7, both ends and the left edge of the piece 8, etc., etc., etc., mutatis mutandis throughout. The chamfered or skived edges of these several pieces do not4 appear in Fig. l, because in the formation of the fabric after said edges have been suitably treated with adhesives they are made to overlap each other, and, therefore, in Fig. 1 only the joints 9 are seen.l The several pieces, 4, 5, 6, 7, ete., are laid adjoining each other in the manner depicted in Fig. 1, but l'lat and upon an endless belt or carrier. The

soy

chamfered edges of the various pieces overlap .each

other, having been first suitably shaped so` that like pieces will fit to like pieces. The adhesives applied to the chamfered edges cause same to adhere to each other in a preliminary manner, but the movement of the endless belt or carrier propels each of the pieces longitudinally forward until it reaches a cylindrical or other former and compressor. Fig. l shows the fabric after having been formed on and compressed upon a cylindrical former. Moreover, Fig. l illustrates an article in which a series of laminations has been produced by feeding the fabric so as to 4Wind around the cylinder al plurality o ftimes and always under pressure. Such laminations may, also, be formed by laying several thicknesses of pieces of veneer, as above described, one

.ontop of the other and passing the same through the former and compressor all at one time, but it is preferable to follow the method of repeated windings, asthe compressor is better able to compact the chamfered ljoints when handling a single thin strip of material than a number of layers. When the article is to be formed of laminations of fabric, as of the laminations 3,

, 10, and 1l in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, adhesyes will bersuitably applied between the different layers, so that When the main body of the article is turned out, as exhibited in the hollow cylinder 12, illustrated in Fig. 1, it will be a compact and solid body. When the fabric is formed into laminations, additional strength may be imparted to the product by arranging the different strips or pieces so that the grain of the Wood in the several pieces or strips of the second layer will run transversely to'the grain ofthe wood in the several pieces or strips of the rst layer,` while the strips or pieces in the third layer will be arranged so that their grain will run transversely to the grain of the strips or pieces in the second layer. It is obvious, also, that the strips of the intermediate layer, when there are only three, for instance, can be constructed of pieces or strips in which part havegtheir grain running longitudinally and another part transversely of the fabric'. The cylinder 13, illustrated in Fig. 4, exhibits an article made by a modification of the hereinabove-described process oi manufacture. It is shown as composed of two laminations. These laminations are produced by Winding strips of quasi veneer chamfered on one side on their lower edges, andv 'on the other side on their upper edges, the strip 14 thus wound on the former and compressor te form the'first layer of the cylinder being wound in the Vdirection indi-cated by the arrow, and 15 denoting theend of that strip, while the strip 16, forming the outer lamination, is Wound from the opposite end of the former, and in the oppositedirection (indicated by the arrow), 17 denoting the end of that strip. The cylinder 13 in the modification. now being described is formed' by feeding a continuous ribbon of quasi veneer into the former and compressor, its upper and outer and its lower and inner-chamfered edges having been treated with adhesives. This ribbon is fed at such an angle to the former that the low i lines in Fig. 4, as at 18. It w-ill be understood thatin Fig. 4 the ribbon 14 is chamfered at its upper side at the edge marked'19, and onits under side on its edge marked 20. The ribbon 16 is similarly chamfered. The compression in this form ofthe article forms the fabric which is the subject-matter of the present application byl uniting the chamfered edges in the same4 manner as in the other orm of the fabric described above. The chamfering or skiving possesses 'the same characteristics as to form as described in the manner of treating the separate pieces when the fabric is composed of fragments, instead of a continuous strip. One of l'the most important features of this process of manufacture consists in the manner by which a laminated article is made. As layer is wound upon layer in the manner hereinabove described, the pressure of the successive layers gradually increases the pressure upon the first layer so that an enormous aggregate pressure can be reached. Thus if the firstwinding of the material around Vthe former-drum is effected under a,-

certain pressure the pressure of the second wind or 'layer of material will be double on the former-drum that of the first layer. An equal amount of pressure will be added by the next layer, so that the pressure on the first layer, when'the third one has been wound, will equal double the pressure ot the first lamination on the former-drum when first wound therearound. The result is a laminated product of unusual strength.

Having thus described my said invention, what I claimand desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. A llgneous fabric composed of separated pieces of veneer, said pieces being chamfered or sklved on their connecting edges and said chamfered portions overlapping each other and' being connected to each other by adhesves, said joints being compacted together under pressure.

2. A fabric composed of a patchwork of thin strips or pieces of material, said strips or pieces being4 suitably chamfered or skived'at the ends or edges of same adjacent to similar strips or pieces skived in like manner, the skived portions of both'adjacent pieces vertically overlapping each other and being united together by adhesives under pressure,

3. A fabric formed out of individual pieces or strips of .a thin material, each of said pieces or strips having at least one edge chamfered or skived, so that ,the strip or piece at its said skived edge or edges and for a short distance back therefrom is of equal thickness, but the remainder of saidI skived portion constituting a bevel, said skived portions being connected with adhesives and by overlapping the portions of adjacent strips or pieces, said several strips or pieces being united together under pressure by adhesives applied to said sklved portions.

4. A fabric composed of laminated patchwork, said patchwork being composed of individual strips or pieces of thin material, each of said strips or pieces being skived or chamfered on at least one of its edges, said strips or vpieces being connected together by adhesives applied to l said chamfered portions, same vertically overlapping each other in-connecting pieces, and said laminations being connected together by adhesives applied between-same, and the whole fabric compacted by pressure applied thereto whereby the chamfered joints vand the union between the laminations are solidified.

5. A laminated fabric, each consecutive layer of which is composed of a plurality of straight-edged scarfed pieces of veneer arranged to have adjacent portions of adjacent lpieces in engagement'with each other, scarf-joints being formed by a part of one piece of veneer vertically overlapping a' similar part in an adjoining piece of veneer in the same layer, the pieces of an upper layer being directly secured to the pieces and overlying thejoints formed by saidv pieces of an under layer.

6. A laminated'fabric,-each consecutive layer of which is composed of a plurality of scarfed piecesv of veneer of indifferent/areas bounded by straight lines, the adjacent portions of adjacent pieces engaging ,one another, scarfjoi'nts being formed by a part of one piece of veneer vertlcally overlapping a similar part in an adjoining piece of veneer in the same layer,the pieces of an upper layer being directly vsecured vto the pieces, and overlying the 'engaging an adjoining lamination, the contacting edges of adjoining pieces in the same layer being scar-fed and arranged so as vertically to overlap, and the laminations being strongly bound to each other by adhesives.

8. A laminated fabric in which the la-minations are in vertical relation to each other and which is composed of a plurality of non-integral layers in direct vertical engagement with each other and bound together by adhesives, each of said layers being composed of a plurality of individua. straight-edged pieces of unprescribed area, said pieces in each layer engaging the adjoining pieces in the saine layer and vertically overlapping joints between pieces composing an engaging layer, and the pieces composing the latter vertically overlapping joints between pieces coml0 posing the formel', and the contacting eliges of adjoining pieces in the same layer being scarfed and arranged so as Yerically to overlap.

In testimony whereof I have axed my signature in presence of two `witnesses this v24th day of September, 1904.

M. E, LETCHER, GLADYS WAL'roN. 

